Monday, July 13, 2009

Sijo Stick and Elastic Book

Sijo (shee-jo) is a Korean form of poetry, sometimes called the Korean haiku. The Boston Globe published an article about Harvard's Korea Foundation professor of Korean literature David McCann (who I had the privilege of meeting before my trip to Korea) and his quest to introduce the rest of us to sijo. This month's project is a stick and elastic book to make a home for your sijo poems.

Sijo have 3 lines, each with 14-16 syllables. The first line of the poem introduces the subject, the second line develops it, and the third offers a twist. Because the lines are rather long, they are sometimes written out in six lines. I've taken the liberty of sharing one of the poems from Linda Sue Park's Tap Dancing on The Floor which was featured in an interview on childrenslit.com:

WISH

For someone to read a poemagain, and again, and then,

having lifted it from pageto brain-the easy part-

cradle it on the long trekfrom brain all the way to heart

Book 1: The long, narrow shape of the top book lends itself to the three line version. I used 4 pieces of used copy paper with writing on one side folded in half with the writing on the inside for the pages. Instead of an elastic, I used 2 strips cut from a piece of plastic netting on a clementine box and tied them together with a double knot at the top and bottom.

Book 2: This book would be best for the six line variation. I punched the holes along the fold rather than on the pages. The stick is less decorative but the pages will open flat. I used all recycled materials: a plastic piece from a ball point pen for the stick, an elastic from vegetables, used wrapping paper, and used copy paper attached with fruit stickers instead of glue.

BOOKS AND LINKS

Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems)Linda Sue Park, whose book A Single Shard won the Newbery Medal in 2002, has written a wonderful book of sijo poems for children with an author's note about the history and tips for writing sijo of your own.